Chapter 422: Falsely Framing the Villain as a Just Magistrate, the True Hero Cares for His Mother and Protects His Wife and Child

Jiangzhou Prefecture Office, main hall.

The gavel slammed down hard, making several corpulent local gentry below tremble.

“Illegally seizing farmland, forcing deaths—according to Great Tang law, execution is warranted!” Chen Guangrui sat behind the desk, his voice booming like thunder; the scarred face of Liu Hong, illuminated by daylight outside, looked especially menacing.

The gentry collapsed to the ground, kowtowing frantically for mercy.

Chen Guangrui remained unmoved, tossing down a death warrant: “Take them out. Executed after autumn. Confiscate their property for the prefectural treasury. Return the farmland to the people according to the registry.”

The government office runners, fierce as wolves and tigers, immediately advanced and dragged them away.

Outside the hall, the crowd of onlookers erupted in thunderous cheers.

The Jiangzhou Deputy Magistrate stood to the side, watching the towering figure behind the desk, silently astonished.

This newly appointed Department Magistrate had the face of a ruthless bandit who killed without blinking—yet his actions since taking office revealed him to be a swift, decisive, and benevolent magistrate.

This new Department Magistrate was incorruptible and judged cases with divine insight.

Corrupt officials and local thugs across Jiangzhou had been beheaded by him in droves.

Chen Guangrui dismissed court and returned to the rear quarters.

He shed his official robes and donned a plain blue cotton robe.

After dismissing his attendants, he slipped out the back gate, winding through alleys until he reached a secluded villa in eastern Jiangzhou.

It was a property he had secretly acquired.

Inside the villa, several nimble maidservants were attending to an elderly woman as she basked in the sun.

The elderly woman had a ruddy complexion and sharp spirit—it was Zhang Shi.

Chen Guangrui stood outside the courtyard wall, silently watching his mother through the gate crack.

After assuming office, he had quietly cultivated a few trusted men who went to Wanhua Store and brought his recovered mother to Jiangzhou.

He dared not reveal his true identity, instead instructing his men to claim she was “a friend of Top Graduate Chen, being cared for on his behalf,” and to provide her with fine clothes and luxuries.

Watching his mother safe and well, Chen Guangrui’s rough hand gripped the gatepost tightly.

“Mother, your son is unworthy. When the truth is revealed, I will kowtow and beg your forgiveness.” Chen Guangrui silently whispered in his heart, then turned and left.

Time passed swiftly; winter arrived, and snow began to fall over Jiangzhou City.

Inside the office hall, charcoal burned red-hot in the brazier, yet failed to dispel the chill.

A sharp infant’s cry shattered the silence of the winter night.

“It’s a boy! The Lady has given birth to a young master!” The midwife stepped out, holding the swaddled infant, her face beaming.

Chen Guangrui, who had been waiting outside, stiffened violently.

He strode forward, his hands trembling slightly as he took the swaddled child.

Inside the swaddling, a wrinkled baby boy lay crying with eyes shut—his own blood.

Chen Guangrui’s eyes reddened; a tenderness, hard to conceal, softened his fearsome face.

But he quickly regained composure, suppressing his emotions, and cast a cold glance at the midwife: “Reward her. Leave.”

The midwife took her reward, bowed profusely, and withdrew.

Inside, Yin Wenjiao lay pale and weak on the bed.

Chen Guangrui carried the child inside, placed him beside Yin Wenjiao, then turned and left without a word, closing the door behind him.

He did not go far, but stood motionless in the snowstorm outside.

Deep into the night.

Inside, Yin Wenjiao gazed at the sleeping child, silent tears sliding down her cheeks.

For these ten months, that “evil bandit” had never touched her, even providing her with the finest food, clothing, and comforts.

Yet her fear and hatred had never lessened.

She knew the villain kept her alive only for her beauty—or some other scheme.

Now that the child was born, this was Chen Guangrui’s bloodline—how could this merciless killer allow the offspring of his enemy to live?

“I won’t let him harm you.” Yin Wenjiao clenched her teeth, a look of resolve flashing in her eyes.

She struggled to rise, searching the room.

With no paper or brush, she found a scrap of cloth.

She lifted the child and laid him on a wooden board.

Then she bit hard into her index finger.

Blood welled up; her hand trembled as she prepared to write a blood letter on the cloth, then abandon the child into the Hong River at night, leaving his fate to heaven.

Just as she was about to write the first character.

“Bang!”

The door burst open with tremendous force, wind and snow rushing into the room.

Yin Wenjiao screamed, instinctively clutching the child to her chest, terrified as she stared at the doorway.

Chen Guangrui’s towering frame blocked the entrance, his face hidden in shadow.

He stepped inside, slamming the door shut behind him.

In the dim light, Yin Wenjiao saw the villain striding toward her.

“What are you doing? Don’t touch my child!” Yin Wenjiao seized a pair of scissors from beside the bed and pressed them to her own throat, her voice shrill, “If you harm him even slightly, I’ll die right before your eyes!”

Chen Guangrui halted.

He looked at his wife’s desperate face, at the infant who might soon be cast into the freezing river, and his heart clenched as if gripped by a giant hand—so painfully he could hardly breathe.

This was the fate ordained by gods and buddhas: for his wife to abandon her son, for him to drift in the river.

Not on my watch.

Chen Guangrui drew a deep breath. He did not rush to seize the scissors, but sharply pulled up his robe and knelt on one knee.

Yin Wenjiao froze, the scissors frozen mid-air in her grip.

“You…”

“I, Liu Hong, am a crude bandit who kills and robs—but I keep my word.” Chen Guangrui raised his head, his scarred face etched with resolve, his voice low and powerful, “I swore to protect you on behalf of that Chen scholar.”

He raised his right hand, three fingers pointing to heaven.

“I swear today: I will not lay a finger on you or your child. I will raise this boy as my own, and protect him with my life. If I break this vow, may Liu Hong be struck by thunder, pierced by ten thousand arrows, and after death, descend into the Eighteen Layers of Hell, never to be reborn!”

The oath rang out, echoing through the room.

Yin Wenjiao stared blankly at the villain who had sworn such a curse, her mind empty.

How could a ruthless river bandit swear such a terrible oath for the child of his enemy?

Her grip loosened; the scissors slipped from her hand and clattered to the floor.

Chen Guangrui rose, stepped to the bedside, seized the wooden board, and snapped it in two with both hands.

“Crack!” The board split, and he tossed it into the brazier.

The wood instantly burst into flame.

“The storm outside is fierce, the river water icy. If you cast him into the river, he will die for certain.” Chen Guangrui lowered his gaze, hiding the pain in his eyes, “This child shall be named Chen Yan. He takes his father’s surname.”

With that, Chen Guangrui turned and strode out of the room, without hesitation.

The door closed again.

Yin Wenjiao slumped onto the bed, staring at the wooden board reduced to ash in the brazier, then at the sleeping child in her arms.

She hugged the child tightly and wept aloud.

Outside, snow and wind raged.

Chen Guangrui stood beneath the eaves, letting snow settle on his shoulders.

He lifted his head, gazing at the dark sky.

The child was safe. No blood letter. No casting into the river.

The gods’ designs were not unchangeable.

Eastern Victory Divine Continent, Huaguo Mountain.

Su Chen sat cross-legged on a meditation cushion, chaotic energy swirling around him; the Chaos Nine Revolutions cultivation method churned ceaselessly within his body.

Suddenly, the Heaven’s Mechanism Mirror, long silent in his mind, appeared, displaying a line of text.

【Detected: Host successfully intervened in a key juncture of the Journey to the West calamity, altering the karmic thread of “Jin Chanzi’s reincarnation.”】

【Congratulations, Host. Reward: 300 Heaven’s Mechanism Points.】

【Current Heaven’s Mechanism Points: 1100.】

Su Chen slowly opened his eyes; deep pupils flashed with sharp light.

“300 Heaven’s Mechanism Points. Not bad.” Su Chen’s lips curled slightly.

“Buddhist sects, your carefully planned pilgrim has deviated from his path. What will you do now?”

Su Chen rose and stepped to the cave entrance, gazing toward the Western Paradise.